Mechanism for feeding cartridge-shell bases



Jan. 29, 1929. 1,700,217

I H. ERNST ET AL MECHANISM FOR FEEDING CARTRIDGE SHELL BASES Filed Dec. 10, 1925 Patented Jan. 29, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HANS ERNST AND GEORGE B. WILLIAMS, OF ALTON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO WEST- ERN CARTRIDGE COMPANY, OF EAST ALTON, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DEL- AWARE.

MECHANISM FOR FEEDING CARTRIDGE-SHELL BASES.

Application filed December 10, 1925.

This invention pertains to devices for orienting and feeding bases for shot gun shells. One of the objects of this invention is to provide a device by means of which top heavy articles, such as cup shaped shell bases which are heavier at one end than at the other may be oriented and fed to a feeding device in a pre-determined position.

Another object is to provide such a device n 1 which the selection of bases according to their position is carried out by gravity means.

' Another object is to provide such a device )f simple construction and which will be reliable in its operation.

Further objects will appear from the following description taken in connectlon with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of a device embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a face view of the device with the hopper removed, taken about on l1ne 2-2, Fi re 3.

igure 3 is a section on line 3-3, Figure 2, and

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail of Figure 3.

The device of this invention is designedparticularly for handling shot shell bases which are heavier at one end than the other, and similar cup shaped articles and which have their centers of gravity nearer to one end than to the other. In a cup shaped article, the center of gravity is, of course, nearer to the closed end than to the open end. In accordance with this invention, therefore, the articles are selected according to their position at the selectin point, and the selection is accomplished I y gravity means, the article being poised or balanced upon a select ng element in such a way that an inverted article will be over-balanced or unbalanced at the selecting point. The arrangement is such that an unbalanced article is permitted to fallby gravity out of its positioning in the selectlng mechanism and back into the hopper, while an upright article is carried past the selecting point and delivered to a receiver whereby it may be carried in any suitable manner to the point or machine desired.

Referring now to the drawing, 1 designates I0 a base or frame upon which is mounted a stationary support 2. The support 2 is generally disc shaped and is mounted at an inclination as illustrated in Figure 3. The disc shaped Serial No. 74,465,

support 2 is provided wit-h a cam shaped pro- ]ection 3 extending partly around its circumference for a purpose which will be more fully described hereinafter. The cam 3 resolves itself into a flange i which is provided for a certain distance with a beveled edge 5 terminating abruptly at a point nearly diametrically opposite the beginning of the cam 3. Just beyond the end of this flange a socket 6 is provided to accommodate the end of a chute 7 which provides a receiver for the selected articles.

Mounted on a suitable bearing 8 on the base 1 and so as to be rotatable thereon is a hub or spider 9 provided with a rim 10. Removably mounted on the rim 10 is a carrier 11 in the form of a ring surrounding the stationary support 2. The carrier 11 is provided with a series of regularly spaced notches or pockets 12. The bottom of these pockets 12 are inclined to the axis of the carrier as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4.

The hub 9 may be provided with a worm wheel 13, adapted to engage a worm 14 on a shaft 15 suitably journalled in the base 1 and adapted to be driven in any suitable manner as by means of a pulley 16 and a belt 17 connecting the same with a suitable source of power not shown. By this arrangement, operation of the shaft 15 will drive the carrier 11 in rotation around the stationary support 2 and on an inclined axis coinciding with that of the support 2.

In the operation of this device the articles, which consist of the metal base reinforcing caps used on shot gun shells, are placed in a hopper 18 which is mounted on a rim 19 on the base 1 and which encloses the carrier 11 .and the support 2. The articles when placed in the hopper rest upon the inclined support 2. The inclination of the support 2 is in such a direction that the initial rise of the cam 3 is near its lowermost point while the edge 5 terminates near the upper most point of said support. WVith the articles placed in the hopper the carrier 11 is driven in rotation. As the carrier moves, one of the articles will find its way into each of the pockets 12. These pockets are so shaped that an article will fit the pocket only in an upright or an inverted position, that is, with its closed end down or its open end down. The movement of the carrier past the cam 3 will assist in sweeping the articles into the pockets 12 since the outside surface 20 of the cam slopes outwardly toward said pockets.

The carrier 11 will, therefore, carry the articles upwardly along the support to its uppermost portion. As the articles reach the top they will rest upon the inclined run 5 which forms a selecting element as will presently he described. The bottoms of the pockets 12 are inclined to the axis of rotation so that those pockets arriving at the top of the support 2 will have their bottoms in a nearly vertical position as shown in Figure 4. The rim 5 is beveled so as to be practically at right angles to the bottoms of these pockets. Since the pockets are open toward the center of the carrier, the articles located therein will rest upon the rim 5 so as to roll thereon as the carrier moves. The rim 5 is placed near the bottoms of the pockets 12 so that the article will be supported at a point close to the bottom of the pocket 12. Accordingly, a cup positioned in the carrier in an upright position, that is with its closed end down, will be so located that its center of gravity will be over the point of support, As shown in Figure 4, the center of gravity of such a cup shaped article will be nearer its closed end, as for instance at the point A in Figure 4. An article inverted in the carrier, however, will have its center of ravity spaced from the bottom of the poo et, as for instance at the point B in Figure 4. An article so positioned will have its center of gravity unsupported since it is placed beyond the rim-5. Such an article will, therefore, be unbalanced and gravitation will cause it to be tipped out of the pocket 12 so as to fall back into the hopper. Every inverted article will, therefore, be rejected at the selecting element 5 it passes thereover, the element 5 acting as a poising element upon which each article is poised so as to determine its position and the upright articles are thus selected while the inverted articles are rejected.

The selected articles will, therefore, remain in the pockets and be carried over and past the element 5 to be delivered beyond said element to the receiver 7. Each article simply rolls oil? of the surface 5 and drops into the chute. The articles rejected are returned to the hopper to be picked up again by the carrier. This process of selection and rejection continues until all of the articles are eventually dropped into the carrier in an upright position and carried over to be delivered to the receiver 7.

It will be seen, therefore, that this invention provides a simple and effective way of orienting or positioning shell bases so that the same may be fed in the required position. The articles are placed in a carrier and carried over a selecting element upon which each article is poised. The unbalanced articles are then rejected at the selecting element while the others are carried therebeyond and delivered to a receiver. The operation of the device is entirely automatic and depends simply upon gravity for its selective operation. Its construction is simple and rugged and, therefore, cheap to manufacture and reliable in operation.

It is obvious that various changes may be made in details of construction without departing from the spirit of this invention; it will therefore be understood that this invention is not to be limited to the specific details shown and described.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for feeding shell bases, comprising, a support having a poising element, and a carrier having a series of base receiving pockets and adapted to receive and move the bases over said element, said pockets having inclined bottoms adapted to position upright bases with their centers of gravity supported and to position inverted'bases at said element with their centers of gravity unsupported.

2. An apparatus for feeding shell bases, comprising, a support having a poising element, a carrier having a series of base receiving pockets and adapted to receive and move the bases over said element, and a cam on said support adapted to guide the bases into said pockets.

3. An apparatus for feeding shell bases, comprising, means for picking the shell bases for deposit at a delivery point, and means engaging the picked shell bases at points removed from their flanges adapted to sustain the uprightbases While permitting inverted bases to be discarded before reaching the delivery point.

4;. An apparatus for feeding shell bases, comprising, a carrier and a ledge, a chute arranged to take the bases from said carrier and ledge, the carrier being inclined to support the shell base against the ledge, the inclination of the carrier and the height of the ledge being proportioned with reference to the hell base to position the center of gravity of the shell base inside or outside of the ledge when the rim or open end of the shell base respectively engages the carrier.

5. An apparatus for feeding shell bases, comprising, a carrier and a ledge, the carrier being inclined to support the shell base against the ledge, the inclination of the carrier and the height of the ledge being proportioned with reference to the shell base to position the center of gravity of the shellbase inside or outside of the ledge when the rim or open end of the shell base respectively engages the carrier, and a chute arranged at the termination of the ledge and adapted to receive therefrom those bases whose rims engage the. carrier.

6. An apparatus for feeding shell bases, comprising, a movable carrier, a ledge cooperating therewith, a chute to which the bases are moved by the carrier, the carrier being inclined to support the shell base against the ledge, the inclination of the carrier and the height of the ledge being proportioned with reference to the shell base to position the center of gravity of the shell base inside or outside of the ledge when the rim or open end of the shell base respectively engages the car rier.

7. An apparatus for feeding shell bases, comprising, a chute, a movable carrier having pockets adapted to take the bases and deliver them to the chute, a ledge cooperating with said carrier, the pockets of said carrier being inclined to support the shell base against the ledge, the inclination of the pockets and the height of the ledge being proportioned with reference to the shell base to position the center of gravity of the shell base inside or outside of the ledge when the rim or open end of the shell base respectively engages the pockets.

8. An apparatus for feeding shell bases, comprising, a movable carrier having inside pockets adapted to take the bases, a ledge inside of and cooperating with said carrier, a chute arranged to take the bases from said pockets and ledge, the pockets of said carrier being inclined to support the shell base against the ledge, the inclination of the carrier and the height of the ledge being proportioned with reference to the shell base to position the center of gravity of the shell base inside or outside of the ledge when the rim or open end of the shell base respectively engages the pockets.

In testimony whereof We aflix our signatures this 25th day of November, 1925.

HANS ERNST. GEORGE B. WILLIAMS. 

